Tmnt: Raphael's new life
by TmntRr
Summary: Raph gets injured when out alone one night. After five years of being unheard from, what will happen when he comes back with a invitation? With thanks to my beta-reader RedWritingRebel. Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own tmnt! (unfortunately)

TMNT: Raphael's new life.

''Raph, you're not going topside, and that's final.'' Leo crossed his arms, another wall between Raphael and the lair door.  
''You're not the boss of me, Leonardo.'' Raph replied coldly, eyes narrowed in anger.  
"Well, since Master Splinter is away, and he left me in charge, yes, I am.''  
''Fine!'' Raphael suddenly said. He left the sitting room and stormed to his bedroom. Within seconds, the sound of him training with his punching bag drifted down to his brothers.  
They knew to leave him be, so Donatello headed for his lab, Leonardo started watching TV, and Michelangelo went to make supper.  
A hour later supper was ready. ''I'll get Raph.'' Mikey notified before he did a backflip to land in front of Raph's room. ''Supper's ready'' he called out.  
Raphael emerged from his room and joined his three brothers at the table.  
'Tonight, I will be free,' he thought.  
''This is great, Mikey.'' Raph said aloud.  
''Thanks, I'm glad everyone's enjoying it.''  
''Hey Raph, do you want to give me a hand upgrading your bike later?'' Donatello asked.  
''Sure thing, Donnie.''  
''I see someone's in a better mood now.'' Leonardo spoke up.  
''Yeah, I am Leo.'' Raphael smirked at him.  
''That's good'' Leo replied evenly.  
Mikey and Donnie smiled at each other, both thinking, I'm glad that Raph is in a better mood.  
Supper was continued in silence. Afterwards, Raph and Donnie went to update Raph's motorbike. They returned after a hour, both pleased at how well the job had gone.  
The four turtles decided to watch a movie together. They chose to watch Leo's favourite movie, although Raphael hated the movie. Leo glanced at Raph, looking both smug and cocky. Raphael decided to bite his tongue and not say anything, his action tonight would be the perfect response.  
Sometimes he hated the lair. Hated how trapped it made him feel.  
After watching the movie, everybody decided to spar in the dojo. Raph and Leo were the last two standing and stood apart from each other. Waiting for the other turtle to launch the attack. Raphael normally would, but decided to try a new tactic instead.  
A few minutes of the stillness, then Leo had to launch the attack. Raph dodged it before lowering himself and giving Leo a quick kick behind the knees. Leo collapsed on the ground. Quickly jumping up and dusting himself off, Leo re-engaged.  
At first it was anyone's fight, but then Raph started to win. After landing the final blow, although they had both refrained from actually hurting each other, Raphael had won. "Good game, Leo." Raph offered his brother an hand up.  
"Same to you," Leo replied although he had a small frown on his face.  
"You two were amazing there!" Mikey enthused.  
"Yeah, that change of tactic was very clever, Raph." Donnie commented.  
"Thanks, but it was a good match." Raph announced before Leo interrupted him, demanding a rematch. "Not tonight, Leo, I'm not in the mood, plus we all need showers before bed." Raph insisted.  
Leo who strongly disliked defeat, started mocking Raph. Soon Donnie and Mikey joined him, Raph smiled, but was thinking 'I can't wait until tonight'.  
"I'm hitting the showers." Raph waved them off.  
After his shower, Raph went to bed. Leo was mad but decided to let it go. So everyone had their showers and went to bed.  
At two AM, Raph snuck out of the lair and decided to go for a run. But he was attacked and outnumbered. He barely managed to escape with his life. Fortunately for him, a female teenage mutant ninja turtle came to his aid.  
Wait a minute, a FEMALE teenage mutant ninja turtle?  
She took him all the way across two towns to her lair, which, funnily enough, happened to be in the sewers. After getting the required medical assistance, he was introduced to those who would be his new family.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own the turtles.

Chapter 2: The next morning.

Leo groaned as he awoke. I could sleep on, he thought sleepily. He slowly walked to the kitchen area and noticed that Raph wasn't up yet. I best go wake him, he thought before he ran up to Raph's door and opened it. The room was empty.

''Has anybody seen Raph'' Leo yelled loud enough for Mikey and Donnie to scramble up the stairs to see what all the racket was about.

''Nope'' Mikey shrugged.

'' I haven't'' Donnie admitted.

''Dammit I bet you he snuck off last'' Leo pounded the wall in frustration.

''I think we should find him, he has never ever snuck off and not been back in the morning'' Donnie sounded worried.

''Does anyone have any idea where he could be, he could be hurt for all we know'' Mikey started pacing around on the floor.

''Ok, I'll ring April and Casey and ask if they've seen him'' Leo dashed across the hall to pick up his phone from his bed.

Mikey shook his head and groaned. ''Why is it every time something good is happening, something bad happens'' he groaned.

''I don't know Mikey'' Donnie muttered before heading to the lap to try and track Raph's phone.

''Guess, I'm making breakfast'' Mikey voiced. He walked slowly to the kitchen, his thoughts were all about Raph and that he hoped that he was ok. Mikey started making scrambled egg and toast. Leo joined him in the kitchen a few minutes later shaking his head.

''No luck'' Leo put his head in his hands on the table, groaning. Mikey nodded grimly.

Donnie entered the kitchen. ''No luck, his signal is being hidden'' Donnie announced. The three brothers ate in silence and got back to work.

Five years later:

Raphael's point of view.

''Liz, get out of the damn bathroom'' I pounded on the wooden door, which creaked in protest. ''Ok, ok I'm coming'' She gave in and left the bathroom. I bumped into her as she was leaving the bathroom. I looked into her ice blue eyes and amethyst mask for a second. Then I quickly ran in. I was just washing my hands when Mistress called us into the dojo. I grumbled as I grabbed my red hilted sai's and ran into the dojo.

I got put with Kathryn or Kat as everybody likes to call her. Kat had her yellow nunchucks ready and attacked as soon I had bowed with her. I won and shook her hand and she congratulated me. Mistress Misty smiled at us, before giving her advice to Kathryn. I smiled at her but my heart wasn't in it. Today was Master Splinter's birthday and I wished I could go and visit him. Almost as if Mistress Misty had heard my thoughts she turned to me. ''Raphael follow me to my room'' she ordered. Her room was small and received it's light from the many flickering candles.

''Yes Mistress Misty'' I followed her to her room.

''Raphael, I have considered your request and have decided to allow it'' she smiled at me before adding ''I too miss Master Splinter''.

''Thank you Mistress Misty'' I hugged her and then I left the room and told the others. Rosetta frowned at me. ''What's wrong Rose'' I asked her.

''If you are going to see him today then you will have to leave now, in the daylight'' She stood with her arms crossed.

''I have something that will suffice, it's a black suit that hides the shape of your shell and I have a hat '' Lizzy said.

''Thanks Liz, I'll be back soon, I promise'' I hugged each girl individually and also gave Rose a kiss on the cheek.

I ran to my bedroom, got changed into the clothes. I ran past the others yelling goodbye for now, while smiling wildly.

Skipping until Raph is at the door of the lair:

I paused at the door knowing that it was far to quiet. I heard breathing, so I called out '' I can hear your breathing so you can step out of hiding. '' They went out of hiding, I smiled, not that they noticed. They hadn't changed a bit. ''I was just about to speak when they attacked.

I did a backflip to avoid being hit. Leo aimed his Katana's straight at me and I caught them in my hands and smirked. But I don't think he saw my signature smirk because it was really dark.

Giving him a kick to the chest knocking him across the room. I quickly dodged getting hit and used Donnie's Bo staff to his disadvantage by grabbing it while he was trying to hit my feet with it while I twisted causing him to lose his grip and grabbed it from him, before I dropped it on purpose, just because we were in the middle of a fight didn't mean I wanted to hurt my brothers.

Mikey however just kept twirling his orange nunchucks that matched his mask, at me. I paused and so did he before he charged. I gave him a swift kick to the ankles, which knocked him down, but didn't hurt him.

. I made my way to Master Splinter, when suddenly all three of my brothers were in front of me attacking me as one. I sighed, as I had hoped I wouldn't have to do this. I rammed my shoulder into Donnie, knocking him away, then at the speed of light I jumped and twirled at the same time giving Mikey a kick.

Leo once again aimed his katana's at me, I caught them and turned them against him. He stumbled and fell to the floor. Mikey, Donnie and Master Splinter all stared at horror as I pushed the katanas down. They sunk down the floor not hitting Leo and I heard them all sigh with relief.

''Why did you not kill me there?'' Leo jumped up from the floor grabing his katanas.

I smiled, ''now why would I do that brother?'' I asked him.

"Raphael is that you'' Master Splinter inhaled sharply.

"Yes" I answered him simply.

"Where the shell have you been" Leo folded his arms directly beside his chest/plastron.

"Learning to control my temper" I said.

"And it took you five years" Leo snorted at me.

"Well it did take a year to recover first and then another year for the therapy to be able to walk again" I explained.

"Recover from what?" Leo questioned me going into mother hen mode. I smiled same old Leo.

"Never mind that, what happened to your fighting skills, they're terrible" I went and got a drink of water.

"They are not!" Donnie snapped.

"Anyway I only came back to give you guys a invitation" I took out the letter that Mistress Misty give me. "

"Remember Misty, because she's alive but also mutated, it turns out there was a Utron building in her town as well, and it's exactly like our story only they're all female" I explained.

"Misty is alive?" he gasped.

"Yes" I bowed at Master Splinter before handing a letter. I then turned my attention to Mikey. "What's wrong with you? I asked worried as he hadn't spoken a word to me.

"Nothing, I'm just shocked that you're alive" Mikey shook his head frantically.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter3  
Disclaimer: I do not own tmnt, nor do I claim to.

"I was mad at ya, and decided 'screw this, I'm going out'. It's my life, after all. I was on a building near Central park when I heard a woman scream. There were five men surrounding her, so I decided to even the odds a little." I drank a bit of my water before continuing. "I knocked the last guy down and offered the woman a hand up. She was shaking and terrified and I watched as she ran away-Same ol', same 'ol, ya know? I was climbing back up the building when the foot swarmed me. There was at least a thousand of 'em. I knew I was drowning in them even though I had already managed to knock a lot of 'em out. I grabbed my shell cell, and called Leo on speed dial, it didn't have a chance to go through before a sai hit it. And then the Shredder decided to join; coward waited until I was finished with all the Foot and Hun. I was exhausted by then, but I was holding my own as much as I could. The Shredder got a lucky hit, close to my spine. It nearly killed me on the spot, but I held on. Then Rosetta came, as she was in the area checking out the crime. She helped me fight the Shredder, and between the two of us, we were able to defeat him. I fell unconscious then and Rose dragged me to the next town where Madame Misty, Vicky, Rose, Lizzie and Kat live." I finished.

"Can we come visit you?" Mikey asked timidly.

"Sure, since the invitation was for everyone." I walked into the dojo. I saw the familiar beat up brown leather punching bag in the corner. I started punching it repeatedly.

"Nobody's used that since you left." Donnie told me. "Even after you disappeared, we still considered it yours." He sat down on a blue training mat.  
"Thanks, but I think we should leave now. Tonight's movie night and I promised I'd be back for it." I said.

"Movie night! I'm all for that." Mikey cheered.

"Wait 'till you meet Kathryn, you'll have a movie night partner for life." I stopped punching the bag. I opened up the bag and pulled out the spare suits and hats. I offered them up. Mikey was the first to grab his, Don and Master Splinter quick to follow. Leo, however, hesitated. Then slowly reached for it. I looked at the clock, "We'd better get going soon, if we're gonna arrive back on time."

Leonardo's Point Of View.

I hesitated, thinking for a minute before taking the suit and hat. How dare he just waltz into the lair, make us look bad in front of Master Splinter, and then invite us to his new lair-no, to meet his new family! Still, it was good to know that Raphael was all right. But once we were alone, I was personally going to give Raph hell for never contacting us, even just to know that he was alive. As soon as everybody had their clothes on, we left. Although Raphael did take a few of his possessions with him, a photo album that nobody knew he owned, his hammock, and the punching bag.

Raphael's Point Of View.

Mikey jumped on me, trapping me in a surprise hug. Donnie and Leo soon followed suit.

"What's with all the hugging?" I asked, my voice muffled as I was being crushed by all three of my brothers.

"Dude, we haven't seen you in five years and you don't know why we're hugging you? We missed you!" Mikey said.

They actually missed me! I thought they had forgotten about me, after a while. I never believed it when they said they cared about me, but I could tell from the look on Mikey's face that they were telling the truth. Master Splinter cleared his throat and all my bros let go of me. Master Splinter walked over to me slowly and hugged me tightly. My arms automatically tightened over him, but I was more fixated on what he was saying.

"I am glad that you are okay, my son, but please, why did you wait so long before contacting us?" Master Splinter asked.

I hugged him tighter. "I was trying to make sure that when I did, I'd be ready and didn't screw it up. It had to be perfect. I had to make new rooms, ask the others if it would be okay for you guys to visit. While recovering from injuries and fighting him."

"Who is this 'him' ? Leo asked me.

"Let's just say he's an ol' friend." I crossed my arms over my chest, indicating that the conversation was over. Leo looked mad but he knew to drop it.

We were nearly at the lair now. All we had to do was go down the sewers, we got down quickly and as soon as we were two minutes away from the lair I pulled out the blindfolds. "Sorry 'bout this." I tied the blindfolds over their eyes and guided them into the lair.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: No I don't own tmnt.

Chapter 4.

Raphael's point of view:

I led my brothers and Master Splinter into the living room. A giant, home made banner was hanging from the ceiling and blue, grey, purple and orange balloons were everywhere. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw it. The banner read, 'many congratulations and welcome, you are now in the home of the most awesomely epic person ever, me Kathryn.' Only Kat would do something like this, actually... Mike might.

I quickly motioned at the others to get in position. Leo coughed impatiently. I untied Master Splinter's blind fold, then Mikey's, Donnie's and finally Leo's. Mikey grinned as soon as he saw the banner.

Master Splinter and Mistress Misty just gazed at each other before Mistress Misty offered Master Splinter some tea. He accepted and they both left for the kitchen. I got stuck with the job of introducing everybody.

"This is Michelangelo, Leonardo and Donatello" I pointed to each in turn.

"Call me Mikey!" the youngest piped immediately.  
"Nice to meet you, you can call me Donnie, if you want." he waved at the girls awkwardly. I was impressed that he had spoken, since he's really shy. But, then again, it'd been five years since I last saw him.  
"Just Leo," the eldest finished.  
"This is Rosetta, Elizabeth, Victoria and Kathryn" again, I pointed to the right turtle.  
"Don't call me Kathryn, call me Kat."  
"I'm Rose." Rosetta walked over to me, and I put my hand around her waist.  
"My name is Elizabeth, but I would prefer it if you called me Liz or Lizzy." Elizabeth mumbled, Yep, she's shy too. It took me ages to get her to stop being so shy around me.  
"Vicky or Vic. I'm called Vicky or Vic." Victoria nodded with the words, as if affirming them to herself. She looked at me, bouncing her chin in the directions of the spare bedrooms.

"Oh right, come on guys, I'll show ya to your rooms." I lead my brothers up. Each bedroom was decorated to suit their personalities. I showed Leo his bedroom first. "Vicky helped me with your room, Leo." The wooden door was painted white, Japanese symbols that read 'Leonardo' were carefully written in black paint.

The walls were royal blue. All the furniture was white, the bed, desk, and seat, bookcase and selves. The duvet and pillow cases were sky blue. There was also a place for Leo to hang his two steel katanas. The floor was wooden and had a big blue circular rug. The closet held a few clothes, so we could go topside without being caught by humans. The room screamed 'organised'. Just the way Leo liked it.

"This is incredible" Leo carefully placed his katanas in their assigned place.

Don's was next. The door was the same except, of course, it was Donatello that was carefully painted on the white door in Japanese. I opened the door and grinned. "Liz, helped me with yours, but wait until you see her lab. Two brainiacs in one place? it's a invasion." I joked. Mikey laughed while Donnie just stared at his room.

A metal framed bunk bed sat against the wall, the bottom bunk replaced by a computer desk. The lavender sheets were topped with electric purple pillows and covers. The walls were plum. There were a few wooden selves, most empty, but some filled with beakers and other science equipment. There was a special place for Donnie to leave his bo staff. But he had already zeroed in on the computer, all but running to it. He sat down and started typing frantically.

With a grin, I left my geek of a brother to lead Mike to his room. His bedroom was closest to mine. The white wooden door had Michelangelo carefully painted on it in Japanese.

The walls were white with a orange rim. Orange rugs were scattered over the wooden floor. The bed was an extra bouncy king size, clad in pumpkin orange bedding. There was a wooden wardrobe, and matching selves full of games and dvds. There was also a TV stuck to the wall. Mikey radiated excitement, finally giving in to rushing across the space and bouncing on the bed.

I turned to leave when he called me back.

"Wait, I want to talk to you!"  
"What do you want to talk 'bout" I closed the door.  
"Anything! I've missed you so much, we've all missed you. Leo went mental after you left, bro. He made us train twice as long as before. And Donnie started checking the security stuff everyday." he paused in his ramble, then: "How could you never come back? We were so worried when you didn't return. We looked everywhere, but the Purple Dragons and the Foot didn't know where you were. We even tried Bishop!" tears sprang into Mike's eyes.

The next second, the door opened to Leo and Don.

"God Mikey, I'm sorry. I didn't know it was like that. I was in a coma for a month and suffered from short term amnesia. I was lucky to get my memory back at all. But when I did, I had to go through physio therapy. And once I was finished with that, I found out that our ol' friend has been seen here. I just couldn't leave 'em to fight him on their own." I took a breath, rubbing the back of my neck. "I missed you guys, too and I'm really glad that you're here now. But I won't ask you to help us fight him. I couldn't ask that." I coughed, embarrassed by my mushy speech.  
"Raph, we're your brothers," Leo said, "We'll help you fight this 'he'."  
"Yeah." Mikey and Donnie agreed.

"Dudes, get your asses down here now!" Kat screamed from the sitting room.  
We raced down. "What's wrong?" I asked. I flopped down on my favourite armchair, my bros doing the same on the sofa.  
"We need to pick a movie and it's your turn to pick it up. We were going to wait till later, but Kat here got impatient and wouldn't stop bugging us." Vicky explained, casting a glare at Kathryn.

"What?" she said innocently.

"Anyway... what type of movie do you want to watch?." Lizzy spoke up in an attempt to stop a potential fight.

"Doesn't matter to me." Rose shrugged, balancing on the arm of the chair I sat in. After five minutes of arguing we all finally agreed on a movie.

I pulled on my disguise and shoved money into a pocket before I made my way to the lair door.

"I'll be back soon." I yelled as I ran out the door.

Once topside, I walked to the dvd renting shop, found the movie and paid the renting fee. I climbed up the roof, a run sounding way better than street walking. The feeling of jumping from building to building was freedom. I loved it. But then I saw him. I tossed the dvd case away so it wouldn't get damaged.

"Shredder," I growled. "Come to pick another fight?" I gripped my red leather hilted sais.

I fell into a battle stance. Two seconds pass, then he rushed me at full speed. I released a battle cry, side stepped him, and managed to strike him with my sai. A moment later Shredder turned, crouched low and struck my thigh as I was doing a backflip away from him. I bounced back, charged at him and struck the metal armour around his chest, cracking it.  
I ducked low to avoid a cut to my head and swiped my sai at him. It missed by mere inches and I punched him in the face. He clawed my arm, blood spilling from the wound. I struck my sai at his chest plate, cracking it again. He punched the sensitive area between my carapace and shell. I think he broke a few ribs.  
Shredder threw a smoke bomb then, and vanished into the cold night air.

"Dammit, I'm bleeding pretty bad." I limped over to where I threw the dvd case earlier, snatched it off the cement and broke into a run. I scaled a building down into a rancid back alley, then dropped into the sewers.

I limped through the front door, calling out "I'm back!"

"Well, it's about time." Rose grinned at me. Her eyes fell to the blood, face paling in a flash. "What happened? Are you okay? Did he do this to you?" Rose ran to my side, looping her arm around me as she lead me towards the armchair.  
"I got in a fight. I'll be fine. 'Nd yeah, it was him." I coughed, wincing at the sharp pain in my ribs.

"Come on, let's get you

"I'll help." Donnie jumped to his feet. He pulled my free arm over his shoulder and helped me to the lab. I got twenty stitches in my arm and forty in my thigh, but by the time the wounds were closed, the blood loss was too much.  
I blacked out.

Leo's P.O.V.  
I watched Raph fall unconscious, and then I snapped "Who is this 'he' everyone's talking about?"  
"Yeah" Mikey chimed in.  
"He needs a blood transfusion." Donnie spoke, sterilising a needle. I shot my arm forward. So did Rose.  
"I've given blood to Raphael for the past five years, every time he's needed it. And he does the same for me." Rose said, re-offering her arm with a glare.  
"And I did it every time up until then." I stuck my arm out even further.  
"He's my boyfriend!" Rose mimicked me.  
"And he's my brother." I snapped at her.  
"Done. Who's giving the blood?" Donnie asked.  
"I am!" both Rose and I said at the same time.  
"How about this, Rose can give the blood, and Leo can get his answers. Sound fair?" Vicky stepped between us.  
I considered it. "Fine, start talking. Who's this 'he'?"  
Rosetta flinched when the needle pierced her skin.  
"The Shredder." Kat answered me. Lizzie finished bandaging Raph's broken ribs. Donnie momentarily looked at Kat, his face clenched in anger. With a quick, calming breath he set to giving Raph Rose's blood.  
"No, not him." Mikey breathed.  
"That's impossible." but dread was in my voice.  
"I thought he was dead?" Donnie asked.  
"Yeah, it's just too bad be doesn't stay that way." Mikey groaned.  
"Well, we answered your question, are you happy now?" Rose stood up to face me at eye level.  
"Shh, Rose, don't be rude." Vicky reprimanded her.  
I meet her glare, "No, I'm not. And I won't be until Shredder is gone for good."  
"Does that mean you're going to help us?" Kat said hopefully.  
"Of course." Mikey hugged her.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: No I don't own Tmnt and all their epicness.

Chapter 5

The Next Morning:

"My head hurts" I grumbled to myself as I sat forward.

"You lost a lot of blood, so it's no wonder" Donnie put a hand on my shoulder to try and stop me from getting up. I was about to say something when I heard Rose and Leo start shouting at each other. I shot out of bed feeling slightly dizzy but it was still manageable and Donnie followed me. Nobody noticed us as they were all fixated on whatever Rose was yelling at Leo about.

"You can't just come to here and expect to lead everybody . Just 'cause you're going to help us fight 'The Shredder'" Rose screamed at Leo in disgust.

"You guys wanted help. And I said that I would help, but first I need to make sure your fighting skills are good enough. So don't ask me to help and then yell at me when I'm trying to help" Leo pointed at Rose and then stood up from the brown armchair defiantly.

"We didn't ask for help. We just answered your question. You volunteered to help! And don't you dare question my fighting skills ever again. We could fight right now and I would so win" Rose's temper was lost, and she was itching for a fight. I surveyed the scene. None of the others were able to stop the fight so it was up to me.

"Leo and Rose I would shut up unless your plannin' on attracting 'The Shredder' " I wrapped my muscular arms over Rose and she relaxed at my touch before she and Leo both started panicking about should I be up yet. I smiled, they may have only agreed on smothering me, but at least they agreed on something. And they were quiet which was good. " Rose, Leo, come upstairs with me I want to know both of yer point of views on the fighting. Rose can go first" I said. We walked into Rose's and my bedroom.

"He" she said pointing at Leo. "Thought it would be a good idea to interrupt our morning training, check out our fighting, and boss us around. I understand that he's the leader of your brother's but he's not the leader of my sister's and I. And he just can't expect us to fall into his line, like his little toy puppets."

"I've felt like that as well so I know how that feels. But that's just Leo's way of helping. So don't take it personally ok" I plomped down on the massive hammock that we shared. I stared at the room. The walls in the room were cherry red and the floor and furniture was wooden. "Your turn Leo" I said.

"I was checking out the dojo here. They had started training so I watched, I was curious and there fighting was good. But they made a few mistakes like we all do every now and then, so I was trying to help them by giving them advice. But she wasn't having that and started yelling the minute we were out of the dojo. So it's her fault, not mine!" Leo said. I felt Rose stiffen with barely contained rage, so I held her close to me and started playing with her brown silky hair. It was in a big plait so I used my fingers to ever so gently loosen her hair out of the plait.

"I'm not going to say anything like that. Rose was doing what she thought was right 'nd so were you Leo" I said. Leo glared at me while Rose whispered at me to tell Leo that it was his fault. "No I'm not going to say that" I said. Rose pouted s for a minute before she had left the room telling me that she had a idea. I chuckled as she dashed out of the room. Leo continued glaring at me before I asked "what's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me!" Leo spluttered. "My bro just yesterday decided that we could know that he was alive and Mikey, Donnie and Master Splinter jumped at the chance. And I try to help but instead I get yelled at. And then you won't tell that girl that I'm right. And I wasn't even the one to give you blood, it was her! And you're asking me, what's wrong with you?!" Leo was mad. No actually he was mega pissed off. And I decided to help him get what ever was bugging him off his chest.

"It aint been a picnic for me either . Ya know. And if you ever call my Rose 'that girl' ever again I will beat the living hell outta ya. Ya got that" I shoved him. Hard. Perfect to get Leo to start sparring with me and to blow some steam."If you want to fight, I'll be happy to oblige, and then maybe I'll fight 'your Rose'" Leo threatened.

"In the dojo" I jumped down from the hammock, only to see Rose was at the door and she heard everything.

"I wanted to ask if you wanted to go to the movies with me. There's a midnight viewing of a really cool movie, that I want to see. The movie starts in two hours so that gives you time to get ready, after you kick his ass in the dojo. " Rose smirked at me before walking out of the room. We looked at each other and grinned before we remembered we were about to fight. Scowling Leo and I stormed into the dojo. Well he stormed and I walked calmly behind him.

I asked Master Splinter and Mistress Misty to be the referees and they agreed. I bowed with Leo, and then we began. Leo's attacks were savage but still the same well practised strikes. I countered and dodged and back flipped out of his attacks waiting for him to tire himself out, and then I made my attack. I pretended that I was going to kick his ankles and then jumped up successfully kicking Leo straight in the chest and using the momentum I got from that I flipped over him grabbed his arm and flung him over my shoulder. He hit the floor with a thud. And I knew I had won so I offered Leo a hand up. Master Splinter and Mistress Misty left the room so we could talk in privacy.

"Are you in a better mood now? " I asked.

"Yeah, that was great. Just like old times." Leo smiled at me as he accepted my hand.

"So you're ready to tell me what's been eating ya up now. 'Cause how are we gonna work together if we can't even talk to each other?" I walked over to the seats with Leo so we could sit comfy.

"I want to apologise for how I acted five years ago. I was being a jerk so it was my fault that you left. I didn't mean that to happen. " Leo sounded upset.

"It's not yer fault for what happened. It's mine. But then again, if I hadn't left the lair 'nd all I wouldn't have met Rose or the others. I just couldn't leave them to deal with him by themselves." I started fiddling with my hands. "They remind me off you guys, it's like your all perfect matches for each other. You and Vicky, Mikey and Kat, and Donnie and Lizzy."

"Really? And then there's you and Rose. I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier on. We cool?" Leo asked nervously.

"Yeah we're cool" I fist pumped him.

"Go and get ready Raph, it's nearly time for your date." Leo pointed at the clock.

"Shit I gotta go get ready"I looked at the clock on the wall. I had half a hour to have a shower and put on some clothes. I ran over to the small table and chair near the front door of the lair and deposited my sai's there. Scrambling I then had my shower quickly and dried myself. Then rushing, I put on my favourite red hoodie, a black cap and a pair of baggy jeans. I ran to the front door and sat on the chair nearby. About two minutes later Rose arrived.

Rose looked gorgeous. Her brown hair was wavy and her emerald green eyes were sparkling. She had a red long-sleeved v-neck top on and a ankle length black skirt. She had a black heart necklace on as well. I picked up my sai's from the table and put them in my hidden leather belt. I asked Rose did she have her sai's .

"Of course" she answered. So we started walking out of the lair arm in arm.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6.

Disclaimer: Let's see I have five euro in my pocket, but no. I don't own tmnt.

Leo's P.O.V.

I watched Raph and Rose leave the lair arm in arm and sighed. I wished that I had something like that: love. And not the family kind. But at the same time I was still worried about would they be safe? I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn't realise that Vicky had walked up to me. I was still gazing wistfully at the spot that Raph and Rose had been standing, only a minute ago. The lair's brick wall was closed and I snapped back to reality.

"You're worried about them, aren't you?" Vicky asked.

"Yes" I sighed, was I really that transparent?

"I was too, when they started dating. Do you know how hard it is to leave them alone when you don't know what could happen to them? But trust me it get's better." Vicky started leading me to the couch so we could talk to each other more comfortably.

"I wish I had something like that" she whispered to herself so softly that I nearly didn't hear her.

"So do I, someone special, who loves me for me. It seems so amazing. I always thought that it couldn't happen to us. But Raph really proved me wrong. He seems so happy. So content."

I glanced at the room to see Donnie talking with Lizzie and Mikey and Kat chatting amiable about something that only made sense to themselves. I didn't meet Vicky's eyes. I was scared in case I had scared her with my speech. She really was beautiful, with her black hair perfectly straight and her chocolate brown eyes. She was how I always dreamed that a girl, that I would love would look like.

She took my hand in hers and told me to look at her. I did and I saw she was smiling, she then led me to her room. It was extremely organised, everything had it's own proper place and was in it. Her walls were painted a pale shade of blue which perfectly matched her mask. I smiled and she smiled back at me. Then I spotted her katannas. We started talking then, and I found out some stuff about her.

Raph's P.O.V.

We arrived at the cinema five minutes early and I paid for her snacks and my own, while she bought the movie tickets. Quickly we went in to watch the film. The movie was awesome. Rose's favourite kind. Romantic but with lots of violence.

After the movies we strolled down a gravelly path to where we heard laughter and shouting. We went a fair where I won her a teddy at the toss-a-hoop station.

"I want to go on the Ferris wheel and the tunnel of love" Rose demanded.

"As long as I get to pick the second an' forth ride." I snaked my hands across her hips. "Nu-huh, I'm picking all the rides" she teased.

"Oh yeah, then I'll just have to do this" I tickled across her ribs knowing she was extremely tickly there.

"No fair, I surrender, I surrended" Rose snorted with laughter while I simply grinned at her.

"Your evil" she said but the effect was lost because I could see the corners of her mouth curling up. So it was decided.

We went on a Ferris wheel and on the bumper cars before Rose dragged me to a tunnel of love. We went on and kissed during the ride.

The kiss was like fireworks on my lips. My heart was pounding against my chest way to fast as per usual. And again I thought: how did I end up with Rose? She's way to perfect for me.

After that it was my choice and I chose that we go on a fast rollercoaster. We were having a blast and to soon we had to leave. But before we left for the lair, we went to Rose's favourite Chinese all night restaurant. We got a small table for two with red roses and candles in the private section of the restaurant. Our food was delicious, as always. I paid for the food and then we left for the lair. It was really late when we arrived back at the lair so we took off our disguises and crawled into our massive shared hammock. The last thing I remember before falling asleep was putting my arm protectively over Rose who was snuggling into my plastron.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Part 1

Disclaimer: I'm seriously bored of these. But no I do not own any of the TMNT characters, I only own the others mentioned in this story.

"Aww, that's too cute," Kathryn squealed at Mikey who was grinning wildly and tiptoeing closer to Raph and Rose.

"Don't Mikey," Leo warned, noticing what Mikey was about to do.

Raph winked shy at Leo and Donnie, while Rose smirked at Vicky and Liz. Kat didn't notice this and crept up beside Mikey who was fast approaching the now fully awake Raph and Rose.

A second before Mikey and Kat reached the couple. The pair jumped out of the hammock, summersaulting neatly over the closest two, before landing swiftly and silently. Then they smacked their respective sibling on the back of the head.

The others clapped and cheered, while both Mikey and Kat "oww'd" and Raph and Rose bowed. A second later the sound of two canes tapping the floor captured the attention of the teens in the room. They all froze and then turned at the same time.

"Kids," the two rats muttered as they walked to the dojo. The others followed fearing that they would be subjected to an even harder training routine than usual.

"Now Splinter and I have an announcement," Mistress Misty said quietly to the turtles. "Each of us will give you training, myself in the morning, and Splinter for the afternoon training. This will begin tomorrow, but for today you are free spend how you'd like."

All the turtles stood up to leave except for Raph. He walked over to a practise dummy and began to kick and punch it while being carefully of his wounds.

"You coming, Raph?" Leo called out.

"Nah, I'll be out later." Raph continued to pummel the practise dummy into oblivion.

The others left him to work out in peace. Only Donnie stayed. He wanted to have a proper private conversation between just him and Raph; or even just spend some time together working on something like they did before Raph vanished. Raphael stopped attacking the practise dummy in an instant.

"So what's got you staying in the dojo when there's something else you could be doing?" Raph sat crossed legged on the floor, matching Donnie's position.

"I just wanted to talk. What have you been doing lately?"

"I built a motorcycle." Raph said proudly. "But she hasn't being runnin' smooth recently. Want to give me a hand?

"Sure. By the time we're done she'll be purring like a kitten" Donnie stood up from the worn blue mats at the same time as Raph and they went to go work on it. A hour later the two brothers were covered in grime and oil and grinning from ear to ear. They had talked as they worked so Donnie had gotten his wish. The others had spent the day watching the movies that Raph had picked up two days ago and were due today.

Raph's P.O.V.

God I missed that; hanging out with Donnie, or sparring with Leo or heck, even being the victim of Mikey's practical jokes. I think I spaced for a few minutes because Donnie was waving his arm in front of my face.

"What?" I asked, then noticed Donnie was staring at Liz. I really needed to get those two together. They're way too shy to do it themselves. Rose saw this as well and she mouthed 'bedroom' to me. I nodded and steered Donnie over to the bathroom for a shower.

I joined Rose in the bedroom.

"You smell" she crinkled her nose at me. "Anyway are you thinking what I'm thinking? 'Cause I think we should try and help Liz and Donnie get together. They're like the perfect couple. Well, next to us."

"That's what I was thinking. But how are we going to do this? And what about the others? It's like everybody here has a perfect match in front of 'em and nobody's doing anything 'bout it." I jumped into the hammock.

"We'll do it one at a time, so it's not so obvious. Here's the plan: I'm going to doll Lizzy up and you tell Donnie about her, try and show him how perfect they'd be together! And it's all so perfect since tonight's girls night, no boys allowed." Rose giggled. "This reminds me of when the girls were trying to help us get together. You took forever to catch on though. Like a week of them talking 'bout me and how we'd be perfect together."

"Hey! I was nervous, all right."

"Nervous!?" she laughed.

"If you liked me and all," I said. "But they kept telling me what we had in common, it did get kinda annoying after a day or two. So I tuned them out most of the time. So we got a plan then!" I protested before laughing at Rose who was smirking at me in that special way that made me want to kiss her. I did.

I'll never get used to those fireworks when I kiss Rose. The ones that explode on my lips and leave me feeling breathless but wanting more. They're simply amazing and they always leave me wandering how I ever got Rose to be with me. I'm so glad she is.

"What was that for?" Rose asked me after a minute.

"Hmm, let's see. Just 'cause I felt like it." I grinned.

"Kay" she shrugged. She didn't seem to mind it or notice that she now had some motor oil on her cheek. I gently wiped it off her.

"Go and have your shower, I'll start working on Lizzy." Rose commanded, smiling as I mocked saluted her.

"Aye aye captain," I said dryly. I walked over to the little table that I always put my sais on before I went to the empty bathroom.

When I left the bathroom, I joined my bros on the worn brown sofa. They had some pointless game show on, but I could tell they weren't watching it because Donnie and Mikey weren't yelling answers at the TV.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"All the girls left for Vicky's room about ten minutes ago. They said something about girls' night? So we were waiting for you so we could do something." Leo stretched on the sofa and stood up.

"I have an idea. Let's play ninja hide and seek. We haven't played it once in, oh let's see, the last five years. Let's see how good ya are," I challenged.

"But we don't know this city. It'll be too hard. You'll win for sure." Mikey stood up and offered Donnie a hand.

"But then again, it's good ninja training to be able to adapt and remain hidden in new places easily. Besides it's a challenge it's not like we can just refuse and be called wimps for the rest of our lives." Donnie took Mikey's hands up.

"Yeah are you turtles or are you chickens?" I smirked at them, knowing that they would definitely agree to play now. They're way too proud to leave a comment like that alone. They would definitely play and I was so going to win.

"Fine. But let's play in pairs, even the odds a little," Leo caved. I grinned and turned off the flat screen TV Liz built ages ago.

"Let's go then, just gimme a minute to tell the others that were leaving first. 'Cause there'll be hell to pay if we don't and then come back hurt." I jumped up to my feet and told Master Splinter, Mistress Misty, and even the others. Last time I went out I was nearly killed, and then I got the silent treatment from Rose for a week. Not fun.

"Told enough people?" Mikey smirked at me as I finally made my way to the lair's entrance. I just glared at him before we raced topside.

Freedom, and I'm out with my bro's; life doesn't get much better than this, I thought.

"Okay, who's going to be on who's team? 'Cause I'm leader for whoever is on my team." I warned, grinning like a madman.

"I'll be on your team." Donnie shrugged and raised his hands peacefully in front of him to deflect the glares Mikey and Leo shot at him.

They slumped their shoulders in defeat. "We'll hide."

"Sure, sure, just go!" I shooed them away impatiently, eager to start the game. Donnie and I started counting then, as Leo and Mikey fled the scene to hide.

"So Donnie, how you liking the lair 'nd people?" I asked, starting off the plan real easy.

"The lair's great, it's so similar to ours but still really different. If that makes any sense. And everyone's been great. Rose is like your perfect match, and Kat makes me laugh as much as Mikey, and Vicky is someone I can really talk to. And Liz..."

Donnie and I set off running, flying over the rooftops in search of our hiding brothers.

"Yeah?" I prompted him, thinking about where Mikey and Leo would hide. Somewhere close to where we were counting but far away enough to remain undetected. I smiled, I knew where they were, it was so obvious and predictable to me, but probably a really good hiding place to them. "I know where they're hiding. Let's go!" I burst into a faster run, grabbed Donnie's arm and changed directions.

"Liz is amazing. She's like me in so many way. We agree on nearly everything and she understands me... you know?" he glanced at me to confirm this and I nodded. "I really like her Raph - do you mind that?" he sounded nervous.

I slowed my pace to a walk. "Mind it? I think you and Liz are a perfect couple, and Rose agrees. Ya want my help in asking Liz out? I can offer good advice, I've been there 'nd done that."

"Raph, that would be great." Donnie pulled me into a tight hug, which I returned. We reached the building soon after and started scouring the rooftop for our hiding siblings.

It was then that we heard Mikey talking to Leo. Leo was trying to keep him quiet, but was failing miserably. I nodded my head in their direction. Donnie smiled as we silently made our way up to them.

"Boo!" I yelled and Mikey and Leo both visibly jumped. Donnie and I burst out laughing and soon Leo and Mikey joined in. I noticed everyone was shivering a bit then so we went back to the lair.

"We're back!" Mikey yelled.

"Shh! The others could be sleeping." I elbowed him in the ribs and creped off to the bedrooms using all my stealth. However I heard the girls on the sofa and changed course. I snuck behind Rose and tickled her. The others joined us on the sofa and armchairs.

"Stop it, stop it." Rose squealed, she could barely say it because she was laughing so hard. The others stared at her while I grinned. I kept going for another few minutes before finally relenting. Rose was breathless from laughing so hard and everyone kept staring at us like we were insane.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." I snapped, and they all looked away. Rose giggled and I grinned at the others to show that I was joking. They smiled back at us before turning around.

I rolled my eyes as everyone split into groups of two or threes and started talking.

Rose breathed in my ear, "Let's do it tonight. I'm in a very good, restless mood."

"Your wish is my command," I whispered back, grinning.

The others kept talking and I noticed that Donnie was blushing as he talked to Liz. I decided to take pity on him, but first I properly looked at Liz. She looked good. Her black hair was curled and in a high ponytail, a few curls hung loose around her face. Her warm chocolate brown eyes were surrounded in black mascara and her violet mask was off and clutched nervously in her hands. I couldn't tell about the other make-up but I knew she was wearing more.

"You're amazing at hair and make-up. Liz looks nearly as good as you!" I complimented Rose.

Rose beamed at me proudly. "How's your part of the plan going on? 'Cause I think my parts goin' pretty good."

"Good. Donnie was talking 'bout how he thought Liz was perfect 'nd now look at how he's looking at her." I started giving Rose a massage. Perfect way to keep close to her and whisper stuff with her.

"Well then, tell him to ask her out!" Rose demanded. She sighed, "On second thought, don't, I love it when you give me massages."

"You're bossy today, aren't ya." but I complied with her wishes. I dug my thumb into Rose's back made small circles.

"That's the spot. Keep going there! Perfect, oh that's great." Rose accidentally said out loud. The other girls smiled, but my bros stared at me like I had grown a second head.

"Can I have the next massage? Please?" Kat, Lizzy and Vicky begged.

"Back off girls, he's mine" Rose joked. The other girls flashed puppy-dog eyes at me. Damn that always works on me and they know it too.

"Hey Raph, remember how you said you would talk to me later about that... that thing. Can we talk now?" Donnie stood up from his spot on the floor and I followed his example, grateful for the distraction.

"Sure, let's talk in your room." I replied.

Rose mock pouted me "But—but, my massage!" she laid down on the sofa, taking up my space before anybody else could steal it.

"I'll finish it later." I promised.

Donnie and I walked to his bedroom. "So what can I do you for?" I joked.

"I need advice on how to get Liz to go out with me." He crossed his arms across his plastron.

"Did you ask her, genius?"

"Not yet, I need advice to get her to say yes! That's why I came to you, that and the fact that you offered me GOOD advice! I want to be like you and Rose. You're perfect with her. You know just what to do and when to do it. How do you know that?" Donnie sat down.

" Practise, bro. Besides, it's fun for me when I make her happy. My advice is to just ask her. She's been wanting to be asked out since me and Rose hooked up. They all have. Everyone wants a taste of romance 'nd all that stuff, and besides if she didn't like you she wouldn't ever talk ta ya or be 'nywhere near you. So trust me 'nd just ask her, okay?"

"That's it? It's as simple as that! I feel like a dummy now." Donnie stood up and we walked back to the living room.

Rose sat up for me to reclaim my spot. Donnie sat beside Lizzy, glancing at me nervously. I gave him two thumbs up to show my encouragement. He closed his eyes and nodded to himself. Opening his eyes, he leaned forward and whispered in Lizzy's ear.

"Yes!" Lizzy squealed out loud. All eyes went to her and Don's beaming face.

"What is it?" Kat asked, sitting closer to Liz so she could hear better.

"Donnie asked me out!" Liz squealed. Again.

"Awesome." Mikey gave Don a high three.

"Coolio!" Kat yelled. Everybody winced at that, she's so loud.

"Indoor voice, Kat. You're too noisy, Master Splinter and Mistress Misty are sleeping, remember? Anyway, congrats Lizzy and Donnie."

"Not anymore we're not." the two rats said some behind. "Now what is the meaning of all this yelling?" Master Splinter muttered as I gave up my seat on the sofa to make room for him and Mistress Misty.

"Way to go, guys." I added my own congratulations.

"What's with all the congratulations?" Mistress Misty asked.

"Donnie asked me out! And I said yes!" Liz tightened her ponytail excitedly.

"Congratulations." Leo, Master Splinter and Mistress Misty all said at the same time.

"But right now it is time for bed. And quietly, please." Master Splinter and Mistress Misty stood up at the same time and made their way to bed.

It was Rose and I next. "Night everyone" we called out before we went to our room. But we didn't sleep, we did something much more productive. Let's just say I'm glad the rooms are soundproof.

We gathered in the dojo in the afternoon for Splinter's training session.

"Today I want everybody to do an endurance test. Since Raphael still has stitches, he shall ride his motorcycle. The rest of you will have to keep up with him by way of the rooftops. Any questions?" Master Splinter said.

"No, Master." we all replied respectfully.

I pulled on a pair of black jeans and a red top and my helmet before racing to the surface world with the others.

"Took ya long enough." Rose shook her head at me as we raced to catch up.

"Sorry." I gave her a quick kiss before I took off on my motorcycle. I kept my speed level low until they were ready for me and then I sped up zooming through the city. I checked every minute or two if they were behind me, and the last time I checked, they were fighting!

I parked as soon as possible and scaled the building in less than three minutes. Pulling out my sais I dove right in, catching the Shredder's gauntlet while he was aiming for Rose.

"Thanks." she panted as I re-emerged from the fight.

"Well hello there, Raphael. I was wandering when you were going to join the fight." her voice was like ice and her gaze told me she was all serious.

"Karai." I instinctively tightened my grip on my sais.

With a battle cry she sped towards me while I was busy fighting the Shredder. I swiped my sai at him, while Leo blocked Karai's attack on me. I hit his chest plate directly and was awarded with a nice big crack. He swung his gauntlet at my head. I crouched down low, kicked his ankle and blocked his foot to my stomach.

I spared a second to check how everybody else was doing. Leo and Rose were fighting a bleeding Karai while Mikey, Donnie, Kat, Vicky and Lizzy had taken down half the foot. From the corner of my eye I saw the Shredder rush towards me.

I back flipped out of his blow and straightened myself up before I leapt up and kicked Shredder's chest. Using the momentum, I kept doing this until he fell. I plunged my sais into his chest plate and his arm making a nice bleeding hole. It was then Shredder got lucky. He swiped his other arm forward, the one with the all-dreaded gauntlet at me, It made contact with my plastron. It was scratched pretty badly, but it was all intact. And for that I was grateful. My grip on my sais slackened and he took his opportunity to rip them from my grasp. He produced a dart from a pocket that was invisible to the naked eye and stabbed me with it.

I hit the ground, unconsciousness tugging at me. The Shredder picked me up like a sack of potatoes and called for retreat.

Then blackness consumed me.

Leo's P.O.V.

"Everybody alright?" I asked. A chorus of "yeahs" greeted me.

"Why would he just attack us and then retreat? It doesn't make sense." I kicked something, not bothering to check what it was.

"No! No no no no no no no!" Rose was sobbing. She held a bloody sai in one hand and was pointing at the thing I kicked with the other.

"What's wrong?" I heard Mikey say. Then he figured out who owned the sai. I think it's safe to say we all nearly had a heart attack then and there. I looked around and I couldn't see him so I looked to where Rose was pointing. The moment I saw the dart I felt my blood boil in rage.

"He has him," I whispered, mostly to myself.

"We need to find him. Now! Who knows what The Shredder could be doing to him!" Rose shrieked.

"We need to go back to the lair and track him. The Foot could be anywhere by now! But we will get him back. I promise." Vicky took Rose's arm and pulled her in to a hug.

I nodded. "Let's go back to the lair and track him. And we have to tell Master Splinter and Mistress Misty what happened."

So we had to take the long journey back to the lair without Raph. But first Rose went and got his motorcycle. She rode it home because she was the only one Raph let ride his motorcycle. Unless we were dying or something.

Our journey home was slow and silent and my thoughts were all on Raph.

"Hang on, Raph, just hang on. I've already lost you once, I'm not losing you again."


	8. Chapter 7 part 2

Okay I don't know what the symptoms are for turtles but I'm just going to say that they're the same as humans because they mutated into something extremely close to humans.

Chapter 7 Part 2

Disclaimer: I'm seriously bored of these. But no I do not own any of the TMNT characters, I only own the others mentioned in this story.

Leo's P.O.V.

We arrived at the lair quietly and were greeted by Master Splinter and Mistress Misty. They noticed that Raph was gone immediately.

"Where is Raphael?"

"He," I didn't want to say any more, but knew that I had to. "He was captured by Shredder. We found an empty dart and a bloody sai, Sensei."

Rose shook with the effort of recomposing herself. She was failing miserably. But the only one who could help her was in the hands of our greatest enemy.

Master Splinter's ears drooped and his voice cracked. "I see. Have we any idea to where he is being held?"

"Not yet. But we're going to find him," Rose spoke, her voice filled with determination.

"I'll be in the lab if anybody needs me." Rose walked to the lab eager to start the search. Liz and Donnie followed her.

I surveyed the scene before me; Mikey and Kat were quiet, Master Splinter and Mistress Misty were taking to the kitchen to make some calming tea; I hoped there was enough for everybody, because everybody looked like they needed it. Vicky was crying quietly.

I walked over to her, took her hand in mine, and led her to the sofa. She sat down close to me and hugged me tightly. I hugged her just as tightly, especially when I felt her tears running down me. "It's going to be okay, we're going to find him." I comforted. Vic just dug herself deeper into my arms.

I looked over her shoulder, watching as Master Splinter and Mistress Misty returned with calming tea balanced on two trays. They gave some to Mikey and Kat, who sat side by side on the ground, across from us.

I accepted the tea also, knowing that I needed it. Everybody needed it, but nobody more than Rose. I swallowed the tea, taking in the sweet taste of honey.

Raph's P.O.V.

Everything hurt. My eyelids felt like they were made from lead, too heavy to open, though I tried. Something was making me feel like this, probably a drug of some type. Something that made every part of me struggle as if I were bond by a hundred weighted straps.

When I finally managed to open my eyes, everything was blurry. I was confused and disorientated. There was someone in the corner of the room, waiting for the effects of the drug to wear off. And eventually they did.

I took in my surroundings. The room was cold and damp. There was no paint on the walls and no windows. A metal door stood shut in the corner of the room. The whole room looked uninviting, and slowly I became aware of the chains around my wrists that locked me to a wall. The chains were slack enough so I could walk to a toilet that was hidden in the nearest corner, just a few steps away.

Where were the others? I asked myself. Trying to remember how I ended up in this dump. It was probably the man standing at the front corner of the room's fault. I looked at him then, seeing the spikes that adorned him like mangled crowns.

"Shredder," I growled.

"Raphael," he replied smoothly.

"Where am I?" I tried to move my wrists and winced at a sharp pain. I looked at the chains, they were rusty. Great. I'd better not cut myself with these, I thought.

"Your new home until you die. Which, if all goes well for me—which it will—will be soon. But not too soon, no, I want to torture you properly first." The Shredder smirked at me.

"You're a sick bastard, ya know that?" I spat at his feet.

The Shredder strode over to me then, raised a fist, and punched me square in the face. The force of it snapped my head back, right into the wall. Hard. I blacked out.

When I woke up again, thankfully not drugged this time, I was in a different place. Both my wrists and ankles were tied to the ground. And I was surrounded by Foot troops. A few of the special ones held weapons. But they didn't use them. Yet.

As fists poured down my body, I did not cry, whimper, or scream. I refused to. One had the bright idea of kicking my head then. A couple of them copied this. The rest just kept punching me.

And then it was over. I was going to be covered in bruises tomorrow but at least it was over. Or so I thought; in reality it was just the Foot Elites' turn. One sliced my arm with a double sided axe. Another cut my thigh with a katana. I still refused to cry.

Soon enough, I was left alone, bleeding. After a while I drifted off to sleep. I had just fallen asleep when I was drugged. I was unchained quickly and carried back to the room to be chained once more. A shock collar coiled around my neck. It was set off whenever I was asleep, so once it was on it instantly reacted.

"Ahh" I yelled as it continued for a full thirty seconds. I could feel the smirks leveled at me by the Foot, even though I couldn't see through my clenched eyes. When it finally stopped, my breathing echoed around the room like thunder. 'Please, get here fast, guys' I thought.

1 Month Later: Rose's P.O.V.

This was hell on Earth. I missed Raph so badly it hurt. I needed him here, now more than ever.

Leo held my hair while I heaved into the toilet. But I wanted Raph here. He's been gone for a month now, and I'm worried sick. That's what I told Leo anyway, even though it's only partly true; it's not why I keep being sick, or why I'm so moody.

With a final heave, I flushed the toilet and staggered to the sink to brush my teeth. Leo was silent the whole time; until I spat into the sink.

"You need to let Liz and Donnie check you out; see what's wrong. It's not normal to be this sick just because Raph's gone." Leo folded his arms, a look of unarguable seriousness engulfing his face.

"Not until Raph's back. If he tells me to then, 'nd only then, will I do so. Anyway, we need to get to training or we'll be late. And he's not gone, Leo, just missing. So don't be saying things like that, cause it's not true." I replied, equally as serious.

I ran out the door before he could say anything else. I arrived at the dojo at the same time as everyone else in the lair. Mistress Misty started the training and we endured three awful hours of this. Afterwards I caved to my food craving: pizza with chocolate sauce on it. I'm gaining weight and it's starting to show a little.

I retreated to the lab to help Liz and Donnie.

Raphael's P.O.V.

Pain. It was all I knew anymore; it felt like all I've ever known. But it wasn't. There's more; I just have to keep reminding myself that. Shell, I can't wait for the others to find me. I'm so tired I could cry. I started to drift a little, but was shocked immediately for a full two minutes. My blood felt like it was on fire, burning me from within.

"Going to talk today?" The Shredder asked me, knowing that despite my strong resolve, I won't last forever.

But not yet, at least. "No way in hell."

The Shredder growled in frustration and paced towards me. I felt light headed from all the blood I've lost recently. He drew his gauntlet over the exposed parts of my chest, where my plastron was already broken off because of him. He plunged the blades in, just missing my heart. But I swore it struck a lung. Every breath became harder than the last and I became awareness that blessed unconsciousness was pulling at me.

"You will tell me." Shredder hissed.

"Never," I said before I fell unconscious.

Back at the lair. Rose's P.O.V.

"We found him," I screamed. Liz, Donnie and I high fived, thrilled that we finally have a solid lead.

The others raced in, each set of eyes lit up in delight.

"Where is he?" Master Splinter tightened his grip on his cane. I gave the address and they nodded.

"We leave in ten minutes." Leo said.

We received our weapons then, and I tucked Raphael's sais in my belt next to my own. I plaited my hair and retied my mask with trembling fingers. I grabbed a first aid kit and a small bag filled with shurikens that fit snugly into my belt.

As I raced into the living room I collided with Leo. "Sorry," I said sheepishly. He mocked glared at me for a second before we continued to run into the living room.

"We're taking the battle shell," Liz said. Donnie looked through our first aid kits and made sure we had bandages. We didn't know what else we would need, and we couldn't afford to be weighed down.

"Do you have any idea what part of the building he's being kept?" Mistress Misty asked.

"Best bet, the basement. It's the hardest place to get in and out of quickly and safely." I retied my mask again—a nervous habit I just couldn't break.

This was the moment I've been waiting for. We're busting Raph out of the hellhole he'd been forced to stay in. I bounced on my toes with barely contained excitement, but also a feeling of dread. Raph could be seriously hurt and in need of us now. And we weren't there. "Let's get this show on the road!" I said and raced to where the battle shell was parked.

The others followed me, knowing that if they didn't hurry, I'd leave without them. "Driver!" I claimed.

"Let's just get there fast okay?" Mikey jumped into the back seat, followed by the others. There was no room for Master Splinter and Mistress Misty to come in case Raph needed the pull out stretcher that's under the two other chairs.

"Bring him back to us." Master Splinter demanded. The two rats left then to gather supplies that we all knew Raph was going to need. I sped off then, driving faster than ever before.

"Slow down!" Vicky yelled at me, "You're going to attract the cops." She was cut off by the wail of a siren.

I looked out the overhead mirror and saw the cops chasing us "**."

"What are we going to do?" Kat screamed behind me.

"Stop yelling. I'm going to drive in a corner and use the hover jets." I swerved and executed my plan before they could question it.

"Rose that was totally irresponsible, what's that cop going to think—" Vicky tried to lecture me.

"I know what he's going to think—where do I get one of those?" I finally reached the building and parked on the ground close by. Hopefully the cop wouldn't follow us all across town and spot us.

It was dark so we just literally ran in undetected. Racing for the elevator we were met by fifteen Foot ninjas. I jumped, using the momentum to land on one of them while punching another. They both went down—Lightweights. Dropping down to a defensive crouch, I drew my sais, watching as three others advanced towards me. As a katana was pushed down at my head I raised my sai and caught it. I pushed upwards and the katana fell. I side kicked the second Foot, knocking him down.

Suddenly Donnie's bo staff flew over my head and I heard a crack. I whirled around to see the third Foot fall to the ground. "Thanks." I tossed Donnie his staff back.

"I got your back," he replied. I looked around to see Vicky taking down the last of the Foot. She kicked him in the ribs, and I swear I heard a crack. He fell to the ground clutching his side in pain. We ran forward again to get to the elevator and when we arrived it was packed with more of the Foot.

"Great." I groaned, readying myself for the next round. We made quick work on them and finally boarded the elevator. I punched the final number on the list and down we went. The elevator pinged at our arrival. I frowned, we were in some sort of hallway. It was very bleak and dark, which was to our advantage because a group of Foot—the biggest group yet—passed us, around three seconds after we had hid in the shadows.

"Let's each take a door, one at a time. Rose you go first." Leo instructed. I picked my door, I just felt that he would be behind it, drew a breath and opened the door.

Tears burst from my eyes the moment I looked in. Raph was there and he was hurt really badly. I ran to him and the others followed me. I started cutting away the chains with Leo and Vicky's help. Once they were off, I checked for the rise and fall of his plastron.

It wasn't moving.

I felt for his pulse and only got the barest of movement. Without hesitation I started giving him mouth to mouth, only pausing for chest compressions. I think I did more pounding than compressions though.

"Is he dead?" Mikey asked, sounding on the verge of tears.

"Not if I have a say in it." I didn't stop doing the chest compressions. "Breathe, dammit, breathe! C'mon we need you to live. I need you to live. You can't die. You can't! Come back, please come back. Breathe, Raph, breathe!"

I was beginning to loose it. But he couldn't die. I wouldn't let him. I pressed my mouth to his again and gave my air to him. I pull back for a breath when I heard him gasp. "Oh thank God." I hugged him until I heard him moan.

Carefully I laid him down so Liz and Donnie, the two resident medics in our family, could examine him. It was only then that I checked his injuries. Just one glance and I was ready to kill Shredder. I've never, and I mean never, been so angry. Raph was still unconscious and for that I was grateful. I didn't want him to feel all the pain that had been inflicted on him.

I could barely recognize his face, it was that covered with bruises. One eye was swollen shut and bags were under his eyes. The further my gaze traveled, the more irate I became. Nearly all his ribs were broken and I could see parts of two of them. His body was covered in slashes made by Shredder's gauntlet. Some of them were still bleeding out. One of his shoulders was dislocated and his knee was very swollen. His wrists were swollen from the lack of blood flow thanks to the chains that had been on him. But worst of all: a shock collar was locked around his neck. And judging from the bags under his eyes, it went of whenever he tried to sleep.

"We need to get him back to the lair. Now!" Donnie barked at us. Liz pointed something out for closer inspection.

"It looks like his lung was punctured. See the location and angle of the cut?" Liz showed Donnie and he nodded.

"Let's go then." Leo stooped down and picked Raph up, bridal style. It was at that second a group of Foot joined us.

"Crap." I swore taking out my sais from their resting place. I ran forward and emerged myself in the fight.

I lost myself in the battle, completely overcome by my emotions, especially anger. Everything was a red haze during the fight but I knew that the bones that I broke weren't mine. It was a big group of Foot so it took us more time than I liked fighting them all. But we won. We were savage because of our rage and the Foot didn't stand a chance.

With Mikey and Kat running ahead we escaped the building without anymore fighting. Running back to the battle shell we noticed that Raph had a fever. His body was boiling to the touch and violent shivers raked him. His skin was grey green, which usually was a good indicator of infection. We got in the battle shell and as Leo laid Raph down on the stretcher, I drove off into the night. Donnie and Liz got straight to work, Lizzy cleaning the wounds, and Donnie bandaging them.

After what felt like an eternity of driving, but was only like ten minutes, we arrived at the secret place that we parked the battle shell. With Leo holding Raph, we ran to the lair as quickly as we could. I was so scared that Raph could die, but I knew I had to be strong for both of us. He needed all the strength I could give.

Sewer water splashed up at us as we ran. I just hoped it didn't seep into Raph's wounds. I don't he could handle that at the moment.

Nearing the lair, I got an extra bout of energy which propelled me forward to press the button to open the lair's hidden entrance.

Master Splinter and Mistress Misty were waiting for us when we ran in. Leo immediately deposited Raph in the surgical table that Liz had salvaged last year.

"Everyone needs to leave except Lizzie and myself!" Donnie snapped under the pressure of what he and Liz would have to do. Everybody hesitantly left, but I stayed. I wasn't moving for anything. Donnie glanced at me and after one look he understood that I wasn't going to leave Raphael.

"Move to his other side." Liz sterilized the equipment they would need.

"Okay." I obeyed and watched as Liz and Donnie went to work. "Is he going to be alright?" I asked hesitantly.

"It's too early to tell." Donnie answered me without looking up from applying the heart monitor to Raph's chest. I was just about to say something else when suddenly all I heard was a loud beep.

The heart monitor was going crazy.


	9. Chapter 7 Part 3

Chapter 7 part 3.

Disclaimer: I own all my own characters but not the actual tmnt. Happy now?

_Rose's P.O.V. _

"Shit we need to operate, if he's going to have any chance of living" Donnie barked reaching for the antibacterial soap and began to scrub himself down. Liz sterilized all the equipment that needed and when she was done, Donnie handed her the soap. I watched as the gave Raph some painkillers that would keep him knocked out until tomorrow at the least.

Grabbing a scalpel Donnie carefully cut into Raph's plastron so that they could operate "God, it's bad. We need to repair the lung- asap before it stops working.

I kissed his forehead and didn't look while Liz and Donnie started to operate. His bruised face never moved while I gazed at it, taking in all the injuries.

However my head snapped up when Lizzie said "he needs a blood transfusion. At least a pint and then probably more. Leo might need to give some blood as well."

I nodded and readied the needle to start the transfusion. Injecting myself and filling the bag I went and added it to the drip that Donnie had set up "what else can I do?"

"Keep monitoring his vitals, tell us if anything dips or rises. We can't check it constantly." Donnie directed.

"On it" I clutched Raph's and kept a steady gaze at the monitor. As Donnie and Lizzie were working I would tell them about the slightest change, even the most miniscule difference- it was all I could do and I just hoped that I did it right.

After what felt like eternity, but was most likely around three hours, the operation was done.

"He survived the operation but chances are he won't last the night" Donnie said grimly and started to disinfect the gashes. I helped him. Lizzie got a harder job though- she had to start work on his knee. I finished disinfecting the gashes and Donnie applied the special clay that would have to stay in until his plastron healed itself and grew again. I felt sick looking at Raph's injuries but we were doing all we could.

"He won't die you know. He'll come back"

"How do you know that?" Lizzie asked while Donnie snorted his disbelief unhappily. It didn't sound right, he wasn't meant to be a pessimist. He was normally optimistic so to be like this was strange for him.

"His promise" I smiled, thinking back to the promise made that night. It was a Saturday evening and Raph was finally back from his topside jog. But was hurt- 'The Shredder' had attacked him and nearly won. The blood loss was pretty bad though and he stayed unconscious for two days. I was never as worried than before Raph was captured. When he awoke, he found me in tears. He comforted me telling me that he would never leave me. That he loved me too much to do that.

"But Raph will be fine he's gonna need some time, but he will recover. He's unshakeable like that, when he puts his mind to something he will do it. Now let's get back to work. We still need to set his shoulder and see what's wrong with his knee." I bossed, gathering more bandages.

"I'll bandage his gashes" I wrapped them as thoroughly before checking did the deepest cuts need stiches. When I checked his wrists I saw rust. I undid the bandaging before double checking. "Um guys? There's rust in this one", before I noticed more in all the other cuts in his wrists. "Actually it's in a lot of the cuts on his wrists. "

"He going to need a tetanus shot. Why don't you get it so that we can work on his knee until you have the injection set up." Donnie suggested.

"Okay I'll be back in a minute" I stood up and ran to the door, pulling it as hard I could it opened. It only took a few seconds and then I was out of there.

The others jumped from their seats at the sight of me and Leo stopped pacing the room. Ignoring them I ran to bathroom and as I unlocked the mirror which held our extra supplies and grabbed the stuff. Closing it I noticed all the blood on me- Raph's blood.

I heard Lizzie yelled for Leo while I fumbled with the stupid latch. But it just wouldn't close for ma and after a few more seconds I just left it and ran back to Liz and Donnie. Leo starting a blood transfusion while I got the injection ready. Once it was ready I stuck the needle into Raph's arm and emptied the contents into his bloodstream. As Lizzie and Donnie discussed what could be wrong with Raph, Leo took on the task of bandaging the cuts that didn't need stiches. I stitched the ones that did.

Finally Lizzie and Donnie came to the conclusion that Raph has a severely torn ligament. "We need to keep it alleviated and ice it until we can find a knee brace. Go and get a cushion Leo, and some ice" Donnie ordered Leo while I kept tending to Raph's cuts. Leo did what he was told. And I finally finished with his cuts. Carefully placing the plump cushion underneath Raph's knee before placing a ice pack covered with a tea towel over his knee, I smiled before turning my attention to his ribs.

"How do I wrap his ribs?" I held the bandages and plaster uncertainly.

"Here I'll do it you just help me keep him from falling" Liz offered.

"Kay" I held Raph upright, being mindful of his injuries. As Liz worked on that, the last of the drip was finished. Donnie renewed it and by the time that we were done with Raph's ribs, Donnie was getting ready to reset his shoulder. Liz held Raph done with me as Donnie quickly set it, I murmured words of encouragement to Raph the entire time. I don't know if he heard me or not, but in case he did I kept going. Bandaging his shoulder and putting it in a sling, Donnie finished the last of the work that we could to for Raph for the minute. The rest was up to him.

Raphael's P.O.V.

Everything was sore and I was vaguely aware that someone was talking to me. But instead of the cruel words that I had slowly grew used to, these were nice words from a someone I had missed so much: Rose. I felt my heart leap in my chest - was I home? I tried to open my eyes but I couldn't I was too tired. So tired. I felt the darkness consume me again. But before that happened I'm sure I heard Rose whisper "please live. You need to come back to me." My plastron tightened as I struggled to open my eyes- didn't she remember my promise? But I was just swept away into the darkness again.

Rose's P.O.V.

"He should have woken by now- why hasn't he? He's survived the week unlike what you thought so why hasn't he woken up?" I felt myself get worked up. Again.

"Rose we've been through this. Raph's in a coma and he will come around when he's ….. if he does. We're just lucky that we were able to stop the infection from getting worse and that we were able to get him the right antibiotics to fight it." Donnie explained.

I shuddered remembering Raph's infection. His skin was boiling hot to touch but racked with violent shivers. He was going into septic shock and his organs were failing. I felt so helpless while Donnie got the antibiotics and Liz used the defibrillator on Raph's plastron. His heart had stopped for a full minute, and I sobbed and sobbed feeling numb. I hope that never happens again.

Suddenly a groan was emitted from the infirmary area of the lair. A very missed groan. "Raph!" I sprang to my feet leaving the armchair in favour of dashing to Raph. He was waking up.

Donnie followed and we both held our breaths as Raphael's amber orbs blinked before we fully seen them. God, I had missed those gorgeous eyes. So warm and right now so very confused.

"Where, where am I?" Raph asked wincing as his voice felt too loud for his own ears to handle. I could only imagine what it felt like Maybe like he had swallowed razors .

"Raph you're awake! I was so worried. Here take this water, it'll help with your throat." I handed him it expectantly. I helped Raph to sit up as he sipped some of the much needed water.

"Thanks" Raph lay back down on the bed. But I could tell from the way he kept shifting slightly that he was uncomfortable and missing the hammock. His eyes were lightly clenched shut, obviously he was in pain.

I opened my mouth to speak but I was cut off by Donnie. "How do you feel? And what hurts?"

"Dizzy, kinda sick in the stomach. My ribs and my left knee hurts. What happened to me? The last thing I remember is fighting 'The Shredder' he was aiming his gauntlet for Rose's help and I caught it within my sai." He coughed violently, leaving him feeling slightly breathless.

Donnie and I shared a look, before Donnie volunteered to go get the others. Coward.

Unfortunately that meant that the job of explaining what had happened fell to me. "You're right you did save me there 'nd after that 'The Shredder' and you fought for awhile. Me 'nd the others fought everybody else. Basically he planted a dart on you. knocked you out 'nd escaped. He took you to his lair 'nd tortured you. 'Nd after a month of hell on Earth with no leads we found where you were being kept. We rescued you and took you back here 'nd treated your injuries. You got a tetanus shot, your shoulder reset. Your ribs bandaged and then plastered. Your wrists were then cleaned and bandaged. You had intensive surgery on your lung. Stiches on some of the main cuts. Oh and we had to remove a shock collar which went off 'nd nearly killed you. Then you caught an infection, which turned to septic shock- basically your organs were failing. Is that it guys? Am I missing 'nything?" I turned around to see everybody else was waiting at the door.

"He's been in a coma for the past week." Liz included.

"Why don't I remember 'ny of this? It's like it never happened in my mind." Raph turned to look at each person in turn.

"I don't know why Raph" both Donnie and Liz admitted.

"Well then let's go find out, Liz, Donnie?" I ordered before turning to Raph "I'll be back in a minute, kay."

Raph nodded and both Liz and Donnie followed me to the lab. "Now how can I help him remember? There's gotta be something…" I leaned against the desk waiting for their news.

"Shocking news normally fixes it. This is actually normal though. It's the brains coping mechanism. " Liz answered me after a second.

I grinned "I think I have something to tell him that could help." I left them in the lab before going back to Raph. I saw Raph smile in relief as soon as he saw me. I smiled back happily, however inside I was feeling incredibly nervous.

"Everybody I need some alone time with Raph. So get out….. Please" I sat down on the edge of the bed and everybody else left.

Leo was the last to leave "call me if you need anything. Okay?" He left shutting the door behind him.

"Uh Raph…. Can we talk?" I asked.

Raphael's P.O.V.

"Course, we can talk about 'nything you want" I reached forward wincing slightly as I pulled Rose into a tight embrace. I sighed as I smelt her and felt her close. Her hair smelt like strawberries and her body like chocolate.

"Well the thing is. I'm kinda" Rose started. She sounded nervous I frowned.

"C'mon Rose. You know you can tell me 'nything" I reassured her.

"I'm pregnant" she leaned deeper into my embrace as if she was scared off what my reaction would be.

Rose was pregnant?! I was going to be a dad! I WAS GOING TO BE A DAD! This is the happiest I've been since Rose agreed to go out with me. "That's. That's amazing" I cheered. "Hey I remember what happened now! I love you so much."

Rose's P.O.V.

He's happy I'm pregnant! He doesn't hate me! He actually still loves me! God he's amazing, most people wouldn't be like this. Most would be stressed but not my Raph, he's ecstatic! I kiss him then, a deep, long one but sadly we were interrupted. The others ran in, obviously mistaking Raph's cheering for cries of pain. We just kept kissing and as I went up for air, a question must have ran through Raph's head. "Do the others know?"

"No, I had to tell you first." I looked at Raph excitedly before turning my gaze to the others.

"What's going on?" Kat asked.

"I'm pregnant" I yelled. They stood there clueless for about a minute and then they started cheering. I grinned at Raph and he smirked back at me in true Raph style.

"Congratulations" everybody said at the same time. This was going to be great. I was going to be a mother! And Raph was going to be an amazing father.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: No I don't own tmnt. Only the others characters in this story. Please ask first if you want to use them in a story. I don't own the songs either .

Chapter 8

Okay I'm just going to say that Raph sounds like Nikelback and Rose sounds like Beyoncé. It would probably help to just listen to the songs. But it's your choice.

Rose's P.O.V. One week later.

"This bed is so uncomfortable," I grumbled to Raph as Lizzy put a cold jelly like substance on my slightly swollen stomach.

"Well, it's a good think that ultrasounds only last a few minutes then, isn't it. Besides, don't you want to see what we're havin', cos I do. " Raph tried to sooth me, but didn't bother to try and hide the excitement from his voice.

"Umm, guys, there's two heartbeats. " Donnie was looking at the screen in disbelief. Raph and I couldn't believe it. "One boy, one girl. About a month along."

"Awesome, we're going to have twins! We're going to have twins," I sang quietly to myself while Raph just froze. I noticed this with a jolt of worry, "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothin's wrong, I mean, I'm thrilled that we're going to have twins, but what are we going to name them? It's so important that we get the names right. What if we pick the wrong names?" Raph leaned back on his seat, wincing slightly. Although he was healing nicely he still had a long way to being completely better. His knee still bothered him a lot, and his ribs were still broken, and when you coupled that with the recurring nightmares and his blackouts, it was safe to say that Raphael was still very sick.

"Raph, don't worry, we'll get the right names." I shrugged before noticing that Raph had that distant look in his eyes. I sighed, another black out. I don't blame him for having them - I just wished that he would talk to me more about what he went through.

Donnie tried to get Raph out of this blackout, while Lizzy wiped the jelly off me. The second she was done, I kissed Raphael. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Today it didn't. So I asked Donnie and Lizzy to leave and that I'd get Raph back. I got ready to sing to him. Above all else it worked the best. Quickly choosing a song, Donnie and Lizzy left, granting us privacy.

As I started clapping my hands in beat, I saw a tiny piece of my Raph coming back to me. Then I started singing "Halo" by Beyoncé, with my eyes shut, intent on making the song sound good. To help Raphael understand how I felt.

"Remember those walls I built. Well, baby they're tumbling down. And they didn't even put up a fight. They didn't even make up a sound. I found a way to let you in. But I never really had a doubt. Standing in the light of your halo. I got my angel now." I opened my eyes, hoping blazing amber would meet them. Yet still, Raph remained catatonic. And I kept singing.

"It's like I've been awakened. Every rule I had you breakin'. It's the risk that I'm takin'. I ain't never gonna shut you out. Everywhere I'm looking now. I'm surrounded by your embrace. Baby I can see your halo. You know you're my saving grace. You're everything I need and more. It's written all over your face. Baby I can feel your halo. Pray it won't fade away."

Building up to the chorus I felt like stopping. Raph hadn't responded properly yet. I longed to see him coming back to me, but he would be soon. I could tell from his gaze that the blankness which were now Raph's eyes was leaving. In it's place a piece of the passion melted into the golden amber creating an affect that shone lava at the top of a volcano. Closing my eyes again, I broke into the chorus. I really threw myself into it. Conveying all the pent up emotions that I had been feeling; anxiousness, determination, hope. Hope that he would come back to me, hope that he would confide what had happened to him, and more importantly, hope that I'd get Raph, my Raph, back to me.

A palm brushed my check when the song ended, and I opened my eyes to Raphael's. "What did I ever do to deserve you?" he asked, looking awed at my voice.

"You were you," I said shyly, "And I wonder the same question myself, what did I do to deserve you?"

"You were amazing, just like you always are. You've the voice of an angel, sometimes I wish that you'd share your voice with the others, but then at other times I'm happy you only share your voice with me. Sorry 'bout blacking out, again. Today's meant to be about me spoiling you, not me havin' another blackout 'nd ruining our time together. Again. Is there 'ny way I can make it up to you?" Raph stood up carefully while I supported him.

"It's fine, Raph, don't worry. As for spoiling me you could sing to me 'nd gimme a massage. And of course I forgive you. You were tortured... it's understandable. Sometimes though, I just wish that you would tell me what happened. " I tried to hide the hope from my voice. Knowing that it just made Raph feel worse.

"It's not that I don't want to tell you what happened, it's just that I cant. Every time I try to, I get sucked into blackouts. I can give you a massage, but singing? You know I have an awful voice!" Raph winced as he put pressure on his knee while I guided him to the living room.

"No you don't, I have the awful voice remember?" I told Raph before noticing that all the others were gone. "Please sing for me, nobody else is here and I really love it when you sing to me." I pleaded.

"You're kidding right? You've the best voice I've ever heard. Alright, alright, jus' for you, since nobody's here. You know how much I hate it when people hear me sing." Raph then cleared his throat. He sat down on the sofa with his knee on top of a cushion.

Watching Raph close his eyes, I smiled. His posture relaxed and I could visibly see the effect singing had on him. He was clearly throwing himself into it, releasing his pent up pain and anger. Arching forward he began the chorus.

"Show me what it's like. To be the last one standing. And teach me wrong

from right. And I'll show you what I can be. And say it for me, say it to me. And I'll leave this life behind me. Say it if it's worth saving me."

With every word he sung, he moved slightly. I knew he was just

trying to release it all and movement always helped him, like me.

So I didn't try to stop him, instead I just listened.

"And say it for me, say it to me. And I'll leave this life behind me. Say it if it's worth saving me." Raphael finished. I nearly melted on my seat he was that good. It was only then that I noticed the kitchen door hinged open. Just a crack.

"That... that was amazing." I kissed Raph, enjoying the feel of his lips on mine. "I'm going to go get a drink do you want one?"

"Sure," he shrugged. Happiness radiated off of him at my praise, though clearly he was trying to hide it.

"Be right back," I left my comfy seat on the armchair and walked over to the kitchen. Reaching the door I pushed it open and glared at the sight. Lizzy, Donnie, Mikey, Kat, Leo and Vicky had been listening the whole time. Shutting the door behind me I glared at them with my hands on my hips.

"How dare you guys listen. He's so self-conscious about his voice, it's unbelievable. And if he finds out about this" I gesture at them, "Then he'll freak out. His blackouts have been bad enough as it is. And we were finally startin' to get somewhere with talking 'bout what happened. If he still can't face telling me when we're alone, how's he meant to with you guys eavesdropping like this."

I felt my temper flair up. The others looked pretty guilty. They should be. "Now I think you guys should sneak out of here when I'm distracting Raph." I got our drinks and went back into the living room.

"I'm back." I offered Raph his drink, but he didn't take it. I frowned, knowing what awaited me and not liking it one bit. I looked into Raph's distant eyes, my heart heavy. "You guys can come out!" I yelled towards the kitchen. They made their way over to where Raph and I were sitting.

"Another one? He hasn't had another one so quickly before. This is getting worse." Lizzy said.

"I know. Just help me get him out of it, okay?" I took his hands, searching for any reaction. There was none.

Leo patted him on his uninjured knee while Donnie and Lizzy clicked their fingers in front of his face. Still no reaction. Time to bring out the big guns, I kissed him and he finally gave a small reaction. I didn't want to sing in front of the others, so I tried something new then. I shoved Leo's hand away and sat down on Raph's uninjured knee, laying my head on his neck, he put his arms around me. And finally he was back.

"What happened? Whys everyone starin' at me? Did I do something?" Raph whispered in my ear while I relaxed in his embrace.

"Just a blackout, it's fine." I felt Raph stiffen up then with barely contained rage. "You guys can leave now" I said out loud, but I wasn't being rude, I really needed to be alone with Raph. His temper was about to blow.

The others left us then in favour of a sewer side run. "Another one!" Raph exploded "I'm just so sick of these. I need to stop them. I need to go topside. I feel stir-crazy in here and maybe it's... I don't know, contributing to the blackouts or something. Wanna go on a date tonight? We can go to the Chinese place you like so much, and then this place I've been meaning to show you. It's my favourite place to go to think. You'll love it."

"Sure, sounds great. As long as it's not fancy, alright?" I stood up and gave Raph a hand.

Raphael's P.O.V

My knee hurt for the first few steps before it got used to the sudden weight on it. Great! I'm getting out of the lair tonight with Rose and I know she's been at least as fed up as me with being cooped up in the lair for so long. Rose and I need to be free. We can't stand being indoors for too long. I made my way to our room and picked some clothes. I tugged on dark blue jeans, a grey t-shirt, a pair of grey fabric runners and a red hoodie. When I left the bathroom, Rose was standing against the wall waiting for me. Typical behaviour for her—never wanting me to see her until she's ready.

I went back to the armchair, placed my leg on the footstool, and flipped the TV on to some game while I waited for Rose. Ten minutes passed by. Then twenty. Then thirty and finally she was ready. The others chose to arrive back then before I got a look at Rose. Just typical.

"Where are you guys going?" Leo asked suspiciously.

"Topside for a date. Got a problem with that?" I stood up from my seat. My voice was fixed in that 'I'm going, regardless of what you say' tone. So they knew it was pointless to argue. Well, nearly everybody knew.

"Shell yeah I do! Your ribs are broken, your knee is still healing and you keep having blackouts. You're not going, even if I have to tie you to the sofa. " Leo threatened.

"And I'll just untie him." Rose glared at Leo menacingly. It was only then that I looked at her. I literally felt my jaw hit the floor, she looked so amazing. She was wearing red skinny jeans, a black tank top, a black coat, and had a flower the same color as her namesake clipped into her wavy hair.

"But what if he has a blackout, or his knee gets worse, or—" Leo panicked.

"He'll be fine, cause I'm coming with him. D'ya really think I'll let 'nything happen. Besides, I get him out of blackouts the fastest." Rose walked over to me and I placed my hand over her hip, pulling her closer to me.

Leo looked worried but I didn't care right then. I needed to go topside, and hopefully I could go to my thinking place with Rose without having any blackouts. We left after saying a quick goodbye.

Making our way to the Chinese place I asked, "Why didn't you side with Leo? I mean yer just as worried 'bout me. I can tell."

"'Cause I know that you need. And if risking going topside with you is going to get me my Raph back, then I'll do it in a heartbeat."

"What do you mean 'my Raph'? I'm still me." I stopped walking, anchoring her back as well.

"No, you're not. If you were then why won't you talk to me? I really missed you in that awful month. I barely slept or trained, I was just so focused on finding you. But now, even though you're back, you're different. You don't give me massages anymore or talk to me 'bout going on dates, or just doing anything romantic or fun. It's like you don't even love me anymore." Rose looked at me so sadly that I swear my heart broke.

"I do love you. I'll never stop loving you. You stubborn, passionate, sweet, funny, kind, sensitive, amazing, silly woman. C'mon Rose, you should know that. I've just been tryin' to get better for you so we can do 'nything you want. Now can we just go to the place I was telling you 'bout. " I struggled for words when trying to make her see how I felt. But at least I didn't stutter. Rose smiled at me happily and I grinned at her knowing that I had said what she needed to hear. All too soon though, the moment was gone, and we went back to walking.

"Kay we're here" I told her as she just stared. I smiled, knowing that she would love it here, especially the sky. We were in an old abandoned warehouse. The floors creaked a bit with the weight of us but other than that it was fine. What really stood out about this place was the gaping hole in the roof. You could see the stars from it and it looked like a dark blue blanket with millions of diamands. It was simply breath-taking.

"This... This is amazing. How did you find this place?" Rose dropped to the floor, her hands propped behind her.

"Stoppin' gang fights. This is where I decided to stay instead of goin' back to my bros. It was the hardest decision I've ever made, but I know I made the right one. Now" I sat across from her. "I'm goin' to do my best an' talk 'bout what happened. Okay? It started like this. I was fightin' the Shredder an' he planted a dart on me. When I came to I was in a dark place, like really dark an' he said..." I trailed off, feeling the familiar tinge of fog floating before my vision. I was going into a blackout.

Soft lips were on mine then, and I blinked away the haze. What would I do without Rose?

I pushed on, dredging up the past with all my focus on Rose's empathic eyes. "He said he was going to break me. 'Nd he nearly did. That's the worst part, I've let everyone down. On the first day he punched me and my head hit the stone wall. Hard. I blacked out an woke up for a beating session. It was... awful." Rose took my hand in hers, urging me on. "They were punchin' me and kickin' me while I was tied down. An' what they were saying was bad. Real bad." I paused for a breath.

"This happened a lot 'til I kinda made it worse. I told Shredder that I expected to be havin' a worse time. At the time I was barely conscious 'cause the Foot goons had just finished with me fer the night. I didn't get food for a week an' only enough water to survive. He started giving me personal beatings. Everyday I'd wake to him tellin' me what was going to happen that day. Then he'd claw an' stab me. He liked to trail his cuts an' do it as slowly as possible."

Leo patted him on his uninjured knee while Donnie and Lizzy clicked their fingers in front of his face. Still no reaction. Time to bring out the big guns, I kissed him and he finally gave a small reaction. I didn't want to sing in front of the others, so I tried something new then. I shoved Leo's hand away and sat down on Raph's uninjured knee, laying my head on his neck, he put his arms around me. And finally he was back.

"What happened? Whys everyone starin' at me? Did I do something?" Raph whispered in my ear while I relaxed in his embrace.

"Just a blackout, it's fine." I felt Raph stiffen up then with barely contained rage. "You guys can leave now" I said out loud, but I wasn't being rude, I really needed to be alone with Raph. His temper was about to blow.

The others left us then in favour of a sewer side run. "Another one!" Raph exploded "I'm just so sick of these. I need to stop them. I need to go topside. I feel stir-crazy in here and maybe it's... I don't know, contributing to the blackouts or something. Wanna go on a date tonight? We can go to the Chinese place you like so much, and then this place I've been meaning to show you. It's my favourite place to go to think. You'll love it."

"Sure, sounds great. As long as it's not fancy, alright?" I stood up and gave Raph a hand.

Raphael's P.O.V

My knee hurt for the first few steps before it got used to the sudden weight on it. Great! I'm getting out of the lair tonight with Rose and I know she's been at least as fed up as me with being cooped up in the lair for so long. Rose and I need to be free. We can't stand being indoors for too long. I made my way to our room and picked some clothes. I tugged on dark blue jeans, a grey t-shirt, a pair of grey fabric runners and a red hoodie. When I left the bathroom, Rose was standing against the wall waiting for me. Typical behaviour for her—never wanting me to see her until she's ready.

I went back to the armchair, placed my leg on the footstool, and flipped the TV on to some game while I waited for Rose. Ten minutes passed by. Then twenty. Then thirty and finally she was ready. The others chose to arrive back then before I got a look at Rose. Just typical.

"Where are you guys going?" Leo asked suspiciously.

"Topside for a date. Got a problem with that?" I stood up from my seat. My voice was fixed in that 'I'm going, regardless of what you say' tone. So they knew it was pointless to argue. Well, nearly everybody knew.

"Shell yeah I do! Your ribs are broken, your knee is still healing and you keep having blackouts. You're not going, even if I have to tie you to the sofa. " Leo threatened.

"And I'll just untie him." Rose glared at Leo menacingly. It was only then that I looked at her. I literally felt my jaw hit the floor, she looked so amazing. She was wearing red skinny jeans, a black tank top, a black coat, and had a flower the same color as her namesake clipped into her wavy hair.

"But what if he has a blackout, or his knee gets worse, or—" Leo panicked.

"He'll be fine, cause I'm coming with him. D'ya really think I'll let 'nything happen. Besides, I get him out of blackouts the fastest." Rose walked over to me and I placed my hand over her hip, pulling her closer to me.

Leo looked worried but I didn't care right then. I needed to go topside, and hopefully I could go to my thinking place with Rose without having any blackouts. We left after saying a quick goodbye.

Making our way to the Chinese place I asked, "Why didn't you side with Leo? I mean yer just as worried 'bout me. I can tell."

"'Cause I know that you need. And if risking going topside with you is going to get me my Raph back, then I'll do it in a heartbeat."

"What do you mean 'my Raph'? I'm still me." I stopped walking, anchoring her back as well.

"No, you're not. If you were then why won't you talk to me? I really missed you in that awful month. I barely slept or trained, I was just so focused on finding you. But now, even though you're back, you're different. You don't give me massages anymore or talk to me 'bout going on dates, or just doing anything romantic or fun. It's like you don't even love me anymore." Rose looked at me so sadly that I swear my heart broke.

"I do love you. I'll never stop loving you. You stubborn, passionate, sweet, funny, kind, sensitive, amazing, silly woman. C'mon Rose, you should know that. I've just been tryin' to get better for you so we can do 'nything you want. Now can we just go to the place I was telling you 'bout. " I struggled for words when trying to make her see how I felt. But at least I didn't stutter. Rose smiled at me happily and I grinned at her knowing that I had said what she needed to hear. All too soon though, the moment was gone, and we went back to walking.

"Kay we're here" I told her as she just stared. I smiled, knowing that she would love it here, especially the sky. We were in an old abandoned warehouse. The floors creaked a bit with the weight of us but other than that it was fine. What really stood out about this place was the gaping hole in the roof. You could see the stars from it and it looked like a dark blue blanket with millions of diamands. It was simply breath-taking.

"This... This is amazing. How did you find this place?" Rose dropped to the floor, her hands propped behind her.

"Stoppin' gang fights. This is where I decided to stay instead of goin' back to my bros. It was the hardest decision I've ever made, but I know I made the right one. Now" I sat across from her. "I'm goin' to do my best an' talk 'bout what happened. Okay? It started like this. I was fightin' the Shredder an' he planted a dart on me. When I came to I was in a dark place, like really dark an' he said..." I trailed off, feeling the familiar tinge of fog floating before my vision. I was going into a blackout.

Soft lips were on mine then, and I blinked away the haze. What would I do without Rose?

I pushed on, dredging up the past with all my focus on Rose's empathic eyes. "He said he was going to break me. 'Nd he nearly did. That's the worst part, I've let everyone down. On the first day he punched me and my head hit the stone wall. Hard. I blacked out an woke up for a beating session. It was... awful." Rose took my hand in hers, urging me on. "They were punchin' me and kickin' me while I was tied down. An' what they were saying was bad. Real bad." I paused for a breath.

"This happened a lot 'til I kinda made it worse. I told Shredder that I expected to be havin' a worse time. At the time I was barely conscious 'cause the Foot goons had just finished with me fer the night. I didn't get food for a week an' only enough water to survive. He started giving me personal beatings. Everyday I'd wake to him tellin' me what was going to happen that day. Then he'd claw an' stab me. He liked to trail his cuts an' do it as slowly as possible."

5 hours ago

"I had a shock collar on me from the first day an' it went off whenever I slept. It just made the pain worse, and I nearly cracked. But every time I felt like I was going to break, I thought of you. It was the only thing that kept me sane."

"Oh Raph. I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I wish I'd found you sooner. That month was hell for both of us. But at least you told me what happened now. We're get through this together. I promise." Rose sound so upset I just had to hug her. And then kiss her.

It was only then that I realized: I did it! I didn't have a blackout while I was telling Rose what happened. Now that I said it. I was back, and I was better than ever. Shredder could try but he'd never break me. Rose had "her Raph" back and as we lay side by side I've never felt better.

"D'ya wanna go home? Leo's probably worn a nice ol' hole in the floor with all the pacing I'm sure he's doing." I said.

"Don't be so sure, Vicky and Leo are mellowing each other out. They distract each other an' all. Everybody got together while you were gone. They helped each other cope. So I say we stay." Rose stuck her tongue out of her mouth in glee. She knew she had me on that one, so I decided to do something funny. I tickled her ribs unrelentingly for a full three minutes while Rose snorted with laughter. I grinned and laughed until my ribs started hurting. I grasped it while keeping a smile on my face, hoping that Rose didn't notice. But of course she did.

"Alright we're leaving. I think you need a painkiller or icepack or something. How bad is it?" Rose stood up from her spot on the ground quickly and offered me her hand. Wincing, I took it.

"It'll be fine once I get some ice on it. Don't worry." I reassured Rose. We went back to the lair then as fast as we could. My ribs were screaming in agony the whole way.

Once we arrived back I walked over to my favourite armchair while Rose got me ice. I hadn't even settled into my seat before I was bombarded with questions. "What hurts and how bad?" Donnie asked, Lizzie right behind him.

"My ribs hurt an' my knee 's startin' to hurt. I'll be fine." I put my leg up on the armchair, wincing slightly.

"Let's get you to the infirmary. I think we need to check your knee out again." Lizzie demanded. I nodded and Donnie helped me up. The others hovered around me, worried that I would fall. Rose walked back into the room then. Leo and the others turned around for a minute while I took a step on my own. Lizzy and Donnie were already waiting for me so I sped up.

"I hope you're happy. You got what you wanted and Raph's hurt because of it." Leo snarled at Rose. I opened my mouth to speak but Rose cut me off.

"You think I wanted him to get hurt! You twit, we went topside so we could talk without anybody listenin' in. It's like there's no privacy here. We needed to go topside, we needed to talk. That's all." Rose spoke with so much venom in her voice that it shocked Leo into silence.

"But Raph got hurt because he wasn't ready to go topside and you still took him!" Vicky pointed out.

Ugh, this needed to stop and fast. I opened my mouth quickly, determined not to be cut of again. "Don't talk 'bout me like I'm not here. I can hear ya an' let me tell you something. It's not Rose's responsibility to look after me or anybody else's. I wanted to go topside an' I would've gone either way, but I wanted Rose to come with me. So stop snapping at her." I took another step away from them. The others were stunned into silence while I did my best to leave quickly.

I tripped after a minute and landed on my bad knee. Pain overwhelmed me and I screamed. The others raced over to me and tried to help me up.

"Stop it. I can get up myself. I'm not an invalid. I can do things by myself. " I said through clenched teeth.

"Raph, let us help you." Mikey tried to help me up again but I shrugged out of his hand.

"I don't need yer help. What I need is for everybody to stop smothering me. I thought I was getting better when I told Rose what happened, but I couldn't have been more wrong." Pain laced my voice as I struggled up.

I made my way to the infirmary and Lizzie assured me that my knee was healing nicely, I just needed to take my pain killers when I was supposed to and not over exert it.

"Thanks," I said as I left. I hobbled back to the kitchen and grabbed a notebook and pen. Leaving the kitchen I was annoyed when Kat came up to me and tried to convince me to watch a TV program with her and Mikey. I held my tongue but shook my head no. Going as quickly as I could, I made my way to my bedroom.

I was going crazy with everyone hovering around me all the time. So I was going to release my frustration using poetry. Nobody was ever allowed to read my poems but they helped me calm down. Sitting down on the hammock I flipped opened the book to a clean page.

Unscrewing the pen cap. I got ready to write. As the ink flowed onto paper I felt more and more calm.

Space.

I've always been a bit of a loner.

Couldn't stand being stuck down here.

I've always needed my own space.

I need to be topside.

I feel free there. Invincible.

It's so amazingly spacious.

Being down here, surrounded by everyone, cornered is agony.

I can't stand it. I feel like I'm going to explode.

All because of my need of a little space.

Done. I smiled despite myself. Picking up the book I tore the page from it. Walking back to the kitchen, I folded up the poem and placed it in my belt until I had a drink with my painkillers. Leaving the kitchen I smelt the scent of burning candles and figured that Master Splinter and Mistress Misty were meditating.

Laughter met me as I walked into the living room. A comedy filled the TV screen in front of Mike and Kat. Figures. But Rose was with them which, was odd since she normally hated comedies. She must be upset, I realized, angry at myself for making her feel like that.

I kept walking as I was thinking and didn't notice the popcorn that was scattered on the floor. The kernels crunched beneath my feet. Rose, Mikey and Kat's heads all spun round at the same time.

"Shit" I cursed.

"**." I cursed.

"Raph, bro, come join us." Mikey waved me over.

"Kay," I said uncertainly making my way to Rose. Now this was going to be fun to get Rose to forgive me for acting like a jerk.

"Rose, I'm sorry. I just snapped." I leaned forward as I tried to place my hand on her knee.

Rose pushed my hand away, and from the corner of my eye I noticed Mikey reaching for a piece of paper in front of him. I realized then that it was the poem I wrote. Grabbing it, I hid it again quickly. Mikey pouted. Suddenly laughter emitted from Kat as Mikey fell from his seat trying to recover the paper. Rose smirked and even I grinned. It was pretty funny, Mikey all sprawled out on the ground, ** in the air while he whined.

Pretty soon though, everyone's attention shifted back to the TV again. Rose completely ignored me, despite my best efforts to draw her eye. I knew I had to do something pretty romantic to get her to forgive me. Mikey and Kat clearly didn't have any hard feelings about my earlier outburst, I knew that much, but I cared more about getting Rose to forgive me.

Giving up on trying to get Rose's attention discreetly, I stood up and turned the TV off.

"Aww. Raph why did you do that?" Kat whined at me.

"'Cos someone won't talk to me."

"Rose, talk to him. I'm missing my favourite show." Mikey nudged me in the arm.

"Fine. Just cos you asked, Mikey." Rose sighed.

"In private, please." I left the sofa and walked up the stairs to our bedroom. Rose's step followed and as I stood at the door, waiting for her to enter, my knee started hurting. It nearly gave out, but Rose ran forwards in an effort to help me keep my balance. Unfortunately I fell and took Rose with me. She landed on top of me and I was glad I could cushion her fall. Even if it did hurt my ribs.

I couldn't keep back the moan that came with the pain, though.

"Raph? Are you okay? Do you want me to get Lizzie or Donnie?" Rose started panicking.

"I'm alright, I'm alright." I sighed, rubbing her back. After a second she got off me and sat on the floor properly, I copied her example before giving Rose a proper massage. It was natural and before long Rose was directing me where to go. As I worked through the knots in her back, I also worked up the nerve to speak.

"Rose, I wanna apologize. I was a jerk fer refusing your help when I clearly needed it. Forgive me?"

"No, Raph. I can't. You need to let me in. I love you but when I try to help you, you refuse. It hurts me when you do that an' you don't even realize it." Rose crossed her arms over her chest so I knew she was serious.

"Rose, it's not you, it's just I'm so frustrated an' I keep taking it out on everybody. I don't know why I do it, heck, I've done it since I was a kid and am still clueless. I just feel like I'm going to explode. An' you're the only one I can talk to, cos you understand me." I tried to explain myself but it came out wrong.

I stood up then and again my poem slipped from my belt. Rose leaned down to pick it up and looked at me questioningly. Her gaze seemed to say 'may I?' So I nodded. She unfolded the paper and read the poem. "Is this how you've been feeling? Like everything's been closing in on you?" Rose asked.

"Yeah, that's it exactly! See what I mean, you always know what I'm talkin' 'bout. An' how don't you know how much you help me? When I'm feeling restless you help me tire out. Or when I'm bored, you help me kill the time, an' I end up wonderin' how I was bored in the first place. Or when I feel like I'm going to explode down here, you come with me for dates or just a run. But still you always know exactly what to do." I winced again as my knee started to give out.

"Raph! Here, let me help!" Rose placed my hand over her shoulders, and then threw her arm around my waist to help keep me balanced as we walked over to the hammock.

"Thanks," With Rose's help I ended up on the hammock. Immediately I was pushed down by my shoulders so I was lying flat on the hammock.

"What was that for?" I asked sleepily.

"You're exhausted, an' I want to be with you in case you have a nightmare." Rose slipped onto the hammock facing the door, before she turned over and I pulled her close to me.

Hugging her against me, I closed my eyes unwillingly. After a few seconds I was out for the count, and by the sound of Rose's soft breathing so was she.

That night I dreamt, for the first time in ages. I dreamt that Rose and I were holding a baby each. Me, a little girl, and Rose a little boy. Rose and I looked exhausted, and the others were there too and they looked tired as well. But not as tired as us. But the two babies were asleep. They were so adorable, but really tiny. But then the little girl woke up and let loose an ear-piercing cry. Demanding her bottle, I gave it to her and pretty soon she fell back asleep.

Waking up then, I saw Mikey at the door. "What da ya want?" I asked grumpily, but quietly.

"I was just wandering where you were. So yeah..." Mikey leaned against the door frame. I groaned.

"Go away. I'm tired." I complained while he just grinned at me.

"Can do." Mikey then turned and left, shutting the door behind himself. Settling back down I again fell asleep. Happy that Rose and I made up, more or less, and that I was going to be a dad to twins!


End file.
